The Supreme Electoral Committee (SEC) drafted the law, and interim President Adly Mansour passed it on March 8, 2014 to replace law no. 174/2005, which was issued under the 1971 Constitution.

The law includes 60 articles divided into seven chapters as follows: Chapter I: Candidacy Conditions for the Presidency of the Republic. Chapter II: The Presidential Elections Committee. Chapter III: Candidacy Procedures for the President of the Republic. Chapter IV: Regulations of the Electoral Campaign. Chapter V: Voting and Counting Procedures. Chapter VI: Penalties. Chapter VII: Final Provisions

The most outstanding differences from the previous elections regulations are that the new law grants immunity to the SEC and obligates presidential candidates to hold a higher education degree.

Article 7 stated that SEC decisions cannot be appealed by other judicial bodies. Appeals can, however, be submitted directly to the committee, meaning the SEC is a judicial body rather and an administrative one.

Controversy arose among politicians while the law was being passed because of the immunity granted to SEC. Many suggested removing or finding alternatives to the article. Further, the article was passed in spite of disproval from the legislative department of the State Council.

The law also states that candidates are required to have a higher education degree in order to run, although the same requirement was not mandated in the 2013 Constitution.

Additionally, a candidate must have 25,000 endorsements from authorized voters, with a minimum of 1,000 endorsements from at least 15 governorates.

For voters, the law organizes the voting process for voters who live in Egypt but not in the districts in which they are registered, allowing them to vote before a polling committee in the governorate in which they reside.

Outside of Egypt, the polling process begins before the date fixed for domestically. Egyptians living abroad are allowed to vote provided that their names are registered in the voters’ database and that they carry a national ID card or a valid passport.

The law caps campaign funding at 20 million EGP (U.S. $2.87 million) for the first round and five million EGP ($718,000) for the runoff. A stark divergence from the 2012 election budget, which allowed less than half that: only 10 million EGP for the first round and two million EGP for the runoff. The electoral campaign begins from the date the final candidate list is announced until two days before the date set for the start of the voting process.